Information Security & Occasional Forays Into Adjacent Realms
This situation - the failure of a highly touted Amazon Corporation (NasdaqGS: AMZN) machine learning/psuedo-artificial-intelligence API/Database construct known as 'Amazon Rekognition' - is a Prime example of large-scale, resilient corporate hubris. Highly disappointing, yet the stock is not suffering... And, then there's this.
via The Outline's author, Paris Martineau, comes this tale of opt-in/opt-out, GlaxoSmithKline 23andMe. and of course, The Goods - , your DNA. Of which, results in a nagging question: Why would I (or you for that matter), agree to hand over my uniquely identifying DNA data to a commercial enterprise (that only answers to it's shareholders, and only has it's best interests in mind) to use as they see fit? Oh, and a couple of other questions: Do you trust a big-pharma corporation with your own personal Map of Life? What about the future use of that data, once it's in the slipstream of artificially intelligent genetic-testing-reliant health insurance companies? Food for Thought or just Paranoia? You be the judge; after all, it's your DNA, right?
"In short, most — if not all — of the information 23andMe has on its users has probably been shared with someone that isn’t 23andMe itself, and money might have even changed hands. Which is all perfectly within the company’s rights to do, since they agreed to it (probably blindly) when they signed up." - via The Outline author Paris Martineau in the well crafted post 'How To Sign Away The Rights To Your DNA'
Examine - if you will - Nitasha Tiku's superlative piece on Google Convenience Services. I am astonished that in light of the Facebook SNAFU's of late, Sundar Pichai has intemperately determined that it's a great time to push Google Surveillance to consumers... Enjoy!
'All this free personalization comes at a price: these services count on users handing over even more data about themselves and their lives, and on Google mining that data, giving the search giant more influence and control over our daily choices.' - Nitasha Tiku, writing at Wired
Rebecca (Becca) Rick's has published a highly informative interactive graphic (along with the data source) detailing the Paypal data sharing efforts, in which, your data is published to a multitude of said entities. Astonishing.
Folks, the easiest method to explore this super-graphic is to click this post's title, or the "published" link above, and magically visit the interactive graphic on Ms. Rick's site. Rated Highly Entertaining by Infosecurity.US!
Thanks for the H/T!
...via Adrianne Jeffries - writing at The Outline, in which, Ms. Jeffries describes (with consummate flair and well-wrought detail) the nefarious and over-reaching activities of Equifax and their ilk (the ilk - if you will - are comprised of the agglomeration of evil otherwise known as credit bureaus in the United States (and elsewhere)). Impact to information security? Apparently, just the latest wake up call. Assume you are always compromised in attacks such as these (regardless of the answer you receive from the entity that was 'trusted' with your particulars). Act Accordingly.
via Mike Murphy, writing at Quartz, comes the truth regarding inherent tech industry rascism (evidenced by Facebook, Google, Bing and others). Monday's Feet of Clay report. Read it and weep.
News, of Microsoft Corporation (NasdaqGS: MSFT) selling of customer telemetry on Windows 10 has come to light via Martin Kauffman on GHacks. Martin superlatively details the phenomenal audacity of Microsoft in the matter of selling usage information; and, while not surprising, just another indicator of the onerous feet-of-clay syndrome now evident in Redmond. Oh, and by-the-way, the data being shared is with a security firm, simply astounding. As always, you be the judge.
Meanwhile, in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQGS: MSFT) news, comes this piece from BGR; focusing on the EFF's targeting of the Redmond, WA leviathan's allegedly egregious use of Windows Update to push Windows 10 onto user's desktops... Visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation's blog for more info.
